Pages

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Welcome to the Spring Blog Carnival! We're offering a $10 gift certificate from Amazon or Barnes and Noble online. Or you can choose a book up to $10 US from The Book Depository (for our international Followers).

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Willow Shields, a relative unknown, has been cast as Prim, Katniss' sister, the one she's risks everything to save and the reason Katniss begins the Hunger Games journey! What a great look-alike to the literary version, don't you think?

The Tributes are being announced on the Facebook page using this strange graphic. Anyone know what it's supposed to be? Some futuristic electronic that people in Panem would use to check out their favorites?

_____________________

District 1

Glimmer: Leven Rambin

Marvel: Jack Quaid

She's been around. Grey's Anatomy, John Connor's girlfriend in the Terminator TV series, and the ditsy daughter on the short-lived Soundrels TV series. She's a good physical match to Glimmer. He's the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. Don't know much else.

___________________________

District 11

Rue: Amandla Stenberg Thresh: Dayo Okeniyi

More unknowns. She's adorable!

Katniss' mom will be Paula Malcomson. She recently starred in Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica. And we just saw her on Fringe (TV) as the woman who couldn't die...until she did at the end. Oh, and she plays Lightman's mom in his hallucinations on Lie To Me (TV).

And for Effie Trinket, Katniss' escort, the word it that Elizabeth Banks is in negotiations for the part. Very pretty and lots of glam!

This is almost like we're in Panem and awaiting the announcements for the real Hunger Games!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

It's been 11 years since the third installation of the original Scream Trilogy and the time has come for the inevitable "Reboot". I will be honest here, this may be the best reboot of a horror series. EVER.

Once again directed by horror master Wes Craven(A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, and yes the ORIGINALS) we're taken back to the town of Woodsboro where the anniversary of the killings that happened 10 years ago is mostly a reason to party than to mourn.

You get exactly what you'd expect from a movie like Scream 4 and so much more. Their are stupid bimbos, cut phone lines, questionable judgement, but also good acting, great twists, and humor. Not the "WOW, this movie is REALLY bad!" kind, but genuine, smart humor.

What made Scream 4 work is that it realized what made the first one so great. It didn't take itself too seriously. The characters all argue about "The Rules" of horror movies with lines like "The only cop that never gets killed is Bruce Willis!"

He could have fake boobs, long blonde hair, the IQ of a parakeet, always wear 6 inch heels and he still wouldn't die.

They still do stupid things like let each other wander off alone when there is a psychotic killer on the loose but I never felt like I was laughing AT the movie but WITH it. Wes Craven has been involved in the faceless killer slasher-horror since its beginnings. He practically invented it!

I am going to terrify you, make you question every noise you hear when you're alone, and you'll never answer a call from a blocked number again. And your going to pay me money to do it.

He of all people would know what the clichés are yet instead of trying to avoid them, he embraces them and incorporates them in a way the makes for the best horror film I've seen in years.

1-Every Tuesday night my 21-year old daughter and I have a standing date to go to the movies. She used to work there and sometimes they give us passes, so it doesn’t always matter what’s showing, although anything scary or funny works. We share a tub of popcorn and each get giant sodas. If the movie is scary enough we share a bag of Twizzlers as well. It’s my favorite day of the week because I look forward to our ‘date’ all day.

2 -On cool Spring or Fall evenings, sometimes on a cool Sunday morning, my husband and I sit on the wicker porch swings of our Victorian house and drink a beer or eat. Sometimes we discuss issues or the children, sometimes we just read in companionable silence. The kids usually check on us a few times, starting up a conversation or just spending some quiet time with us.

3 -It doesn’t happen often anymore, but whenever my hubby of 35 years and I can get away for a weekend it is wonderful. This year, for our 35 Anniversary which happens to fall on Valentine’s Day each year, he suggested we go back to Savannah, Ga. It was the most relaxing weekend we’d spent together in a long time. We strolled all over the waterfront, through antiques shops and around the squares. I found some wonderful boho shops for skirts and jewelry—that always helps me relax. Then in early April I was invited south to Naples, Fl to speak at a writers conference and he came with me. We spent another awesome, relaxing weekend strolling 5th Ave in Naples—and I found another terrific clothing shop where I bought a cool linen skirt outfit. Success!

4 -Reading a really good book that I get caught up in. Right now it’s Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. Wow, what a writer!

5 -Getting wrapped up in a book I’m writing. The house is silent, kids are all at school or work, hubby is at work, cat is napping. Sometimes I’m transported to the worlds I create and I am the character and whatever is happening on the page, is occurring to me at the time. So cool!

6 -Another sweet place my hubby and I sit and have a beer after a hard day working outside, on the five acres of property we own, is on the small deck my father built beside the stocked pond beneath a spreading pecan tree. A warm breeze blows across the shady deck while we sit in our Adirondack chairs, feeding the giant Carp, Koi and other fish. Turtles sometimes poke their noses up to check on the disturbance.

7 -In the evening, after dinner has been devoured and the boys have cleaned the kitchen, I’ll read blogs and email while our evening shows begin. Each night we have a few shows we especially enjoy. Sometimes I’ll play Brickbreaker on my computer, just to keep my puzzle skills sharp.

8 -Twice a year the Friends of the Gainesville Public Library hold a huge sale of books, posters, audiobooks, vinyl records, comics, movies—you name it. I LOVE shuffling through these sales and always come out with treasures. Just this past weekend I took my 16-year old son, who’s into 20th Century History at the moment, to their Spring sale. He walked out with an armload of books he’s been looking for as well as some surprises. And I had 2 bags full of audiobooks to listen to in the car on my daily school-pick-up runs. What fun!

9 -It’s always fun spending a day hitting as many big thrift store and consignment stores as I can. There have been day when the car was so full of treasures and goodies I couldn’t fit the kids in after school. But, oh what fun!

10 -Occasionally my hubby does out of town overnight and my daughter is at work. That leaves me and the two boys for dinner, so we’ll go to Pizza Hut. On these occasions, my older son and I discuss philosophy, social issues, politics, religion, you name it. I’m constantly amazed at the depths possible in a 16-year old brain when put to use.

___________________________

Thanks for stopping by. Your home looks amazing! Always love those library sales. And congrats on a long and happy marriage!

You can win a copy of ODESSA: SERAPHYM WARS or one of the wonderful prize packs that Rebecca has but together. Fill out the form below. There will be two winners!

18-year-old Myrna is drawn into the middle of an epic battle between Seraphym and Demons. An average High School student from Florida, struggling with inner demons resulting from a rape two years earlier, she wakes one morning on the Steampunk planet of Dracwald, home of the demon-dragons responsible for her brother’s recent murder as well as many other atrocities in the news.
To to get home, she must lead a group of teen warriors, battling dragons and monsters, and deal three different men who join the quest. Will love and lust, jealousy, greed, deceit and distrust break the delicate ties that bind the group? Can they help the Seraphym finally defeat the massive empire of evil dominated for eons by the demon-dragons of Dracwald?

__________________________

Contest Details:

- Fill out the form below - Must be 13 or older- Open Internationally - thanks Rebecca!- Enter by May 7

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Welcome to the Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Hop! We're offering a $10 gift certificate from Amazon or Barnes and Noble online. Or you can choose a book up to $10 US from The Book Depository (for our international Followers).

You must be a follower and fill out the form below to enter.

GOOD LUCK

and

HAPPY EASTER!

Check out THE LIST of all the participating blogs and their giveaways!

Praised by writers from Stephen King to Stephenie Meyer, Suzanne Collins’ New York Times bestselling Hunger Games trilogy is dark, captivating, and deeply thought-provoking. Part straight-up survivalist adventure, part rich allegory, and part political thriller, the series has become a new YA favorite.

The Girl Who Was On Fire offers even more to think about for teen readers already engrossed by the Hunger Games. From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to reality television, fashion, and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games by other YA writers reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss’ world really is.

Remember when you finished THE HUNGER GAMES and you desperately wanted to talk to someone about it. And that desperation only got worse after you read CATCHING FIRE, and by the time you finished MOCKINGJAY you were practically frothing at the mouth - stopping random strangers on the street and forcing them to listen to your HUNGER GAMES trilogy babble!

As book bloggers we had an outlet for discussion with each other. But wouldn't it have been grand to talk to some of your favorite YA authors about it? YEEESSS!

THE GIRL WHO WAS ON FIRE is like having a book club discussion of this fantastic trilogy with authors like Carrie Ryan, Sarah Rees Brennan, Bree Despain and Jennifer Lynn Barnes, to name just a few.

They give their opinions on the politics, the people, and the world that Collins created. There's lots of comparisons to society's current obsession with Reality TV. Elizabeth M. Rees in Smoke and Mirrors discusses how so much in the books is not what it seems. Mary Borsellino talks about how love is used as a weapon. Ned Vizzini gives insight into real media training. Cara Lockwood explores the science. Teri Clark focuses on how fashion played such a huge part in the story. I could go on and on.

Okay so the authors don't talk back but it's almost like having them in your living room. I loved their insights into so many aspects of THE HUNGER GAMES. It will give you even more to think about and discuss with your HUNGER GAMES buddies. Jake, Gregory and I all read THE GIRL WHO WAS ON FIRE and we agree, it's an utter treat! (But no guarantee that you won't still be stopping those strangers.)